泰國公共電視發展與制度分析

Abstract

2006年，在泰國發生黃衫軍長期堅持抗議Thaksin政府的示威活動，最後示威活動在軍方依社會動亂和汙辱王室為主要政變理由推翻Thaksin政府。9月19日政變結束後，軍方成立的臨時政府，並且把《獨立電視台》(Independence Television, ITV)電視台收回重新由政府管理與控制。2008年，ITV轉型成泰國公共電視，開啟泰國第一個公共媒體的發展。 回顧被收回的ITV發展歷史，ITV是受民主運動影響而成立的泰國第一個獨立於官方無線電視台。1992年 軍政府利用支持軍方的媒體故意報導抗議軍政府示威者的暴力行為，但這一切新聞都是編撰而來，事情被揭穿後，讓公民對官方媒體沒有信心，卻也形成社會主張成立獨立電視台的力量，三年後的1995年ITV電視台成立。後來卻受到經濟危機，2000年被Thaksin的「信企業」(Shin Corporation)收購，使得該電視台不能維持媒體獨立工作，最後變成一般商業電視台和替Thaksin政府宣揚政績與政策的電台。 由於，ITV是公民運動抗議軍政府霸權而形成的重要社會貢獻，也是泰國唯一獨立於官方的無線電視台，2007年卻被轉成《泰國獨立電視台》(Thailand Independence Television, TITV)，隸屬於政府的公關局管理；2008年，又被臨時政府把 TITV轉成泰國公共電視台。此轉變快速又突然的演變過程，讓社會媒體學者深感遺憾並質疑泰國公共電視台的公共媒體專業和責任。特別是，臨時政府為何採取如此政策(成立監督官方為主的公共電視台)，這是值得研究者探討的問題。 研究發現，成立公共電視台的過程中，媒體學者、社會行動者等公民社會 組織都扮演重要角色。當時社會對於成立公共電視之方式有不同的想法，但是終於有一群媒體學者透過說服臨時政府，成功的把TITV轉成公共電視台。雖然是軍政府成立的公共電視台，但該學者們希望趁著軍方收回之前由Thaksin掌管的ITV，趁勢建立泰國真正可以保護公共利益的公共媒體。 在說服政府的過程中，主張把ITV轉成公共電視的媒體學者，開始進行公共電視相關的蒐集資料與研究，以利提供適合的計畫說服政府成立公共電視。該研究設計泰國公視應該以國家菸酒稅款1.5%為主要收入來源，以免受到政治干擾。此現象造成社會學界爭論公視之成立問題，甚至扯到政治衝突議題，公民質疑究竟泰國公視是否維持工作獨立自由和促進公民社會發展。 目前泰國公視已經工作兩年，經歷很多問題困境，慢慢學習如何改進。筆者認為泰國公視將來也會繼續面臨很多挑戰及考驗，並且也透過這些挑戰來證明自己雖然是軍政府支持成立的電視台，但還是可以超越政治衝突而發展成社會真正的公共媒體。 本論文由Habermas的《公共領域》(Public Sphere)、公民社會(Civil Society) 以及蒐集各國公共媒體制度之比較，來探討泰國公民社會及媒體發展，尤其是20世紀泰國的政治、經濟的演變、全球化和傳播媒體。再者，以採訪泰國媒體學者、社會行動者對泰國大眾媒體和公共電視的看法，作為研究者的參考資料。另外，筆者蒐集評論公視的報紙、雜誌和書籍、相關論文與公視年度報告等泰文文獻為次級資料參考。

In September 2006, the Yellow Shirts demonstrated a protest against the Thaksin government for insulting the royal family, and the movement forced the military to coup to overthrew the Thaksin government. The interim government set up by military took the ITV station back to official control and was renamed as Thailand Independence Television, TITV. ITV, which was set up independently by Thai people movement in May 1992, was the first independent television station in Thailand, while the others are all controlled by the government. As people's response to the distorted media messages from the government media agency, ITV's aim was to deliver unbiased news of the democratic actions of the people, in order to balance the representations from the government and comercial media television, which often reported that the demonstrators were violent riots. As a result, Thai citizens did not trust the official broadcasting anymore and created a chance of social power restructure by implementing an independent television station in 1995. Since that time, ITV had presented a different voice besides the official broadcast system. However, due to the economic crisis hit in 1997, the financial condition of the television station went down. ITV could not afford the license fee anymore and led to the acquisition of ITV by Shin Corporation, which is Thaksin's company, in 2000. As a result, the media could no longer maintain its independence and critical position, and finally transform into a commercial TV station. More worse, ITV became the propaganda media of the Thaksin government. ITV was once the legacy left from Thai people's uprising movement in 90's. Nevertheless, after the military coup in 2006, ITV was taken over by the military government and settled as part of the Government Public Relations Department(PRD) in its new name of Thai Independent Television, TITV. On 14 February 20008, following a previously unannounced order of the PRD, TITV suspended its operation in accordance with the Public Broadcasting Services Act, and the channel frequency was reassigned to Thai Public Broadcasting Service, or Thai PBS. The abrupt process of change did raise some questions from scholars about the publicness and social responsibilities of Thai PBS, especially about the menaced possibilities that the interim government may be able to monitor the content of Thai PBS. This dissertation intended to look deeply into the process of setting up a public TV station in Thailand and found besides media itself and the government, academics and civil society organizations also played vital roles in the process. There are many different ways to think about establishing a public TV, but finally, some group of scholars from media research succeeded to persuade the interim government choosing TITV convert to Thai PBS. The information that scholars collected suggested that the main income of Thai PBS should take from the alcohol and tobacco taxes, in a 1.5% portion, to make sure the TV station can be free from political interference. Besides, the establishment of Thai PBS raised public debate on maintenance of a public sphere. Despite the political conflicts, Thai PBS was questioned by people for media independence, freedom of speech, and the supports to the development of Thai civil society progress. After two years of running, Thai PBS have faced many difficulties and problems and still have to improve itself all the time to ensure the circulation of public sphere in Thailand. Furthermore, Thai PBS have to presented its independence from the government control and the news are beyond the political conflicts. This dissertation consists of a theory model combining Habermas's public sphere theory, civil society models and a collection of international comparison of public media system to investigate the development of Thai civil society and media, especially during the periods of Thailand's political and economic evolutions in the late 20th century. Furthermore, the research included interviews of media workers, academics, and the third players in the Thai mass media and public television's view. Gathering these comments and informations helped to developed a model for the further route of more mature public media in Thailand.